“Like many other installments in the Universal Masters Collection, the Tears for Fears edition is woefully unrepresentative, skipping past 1983's The Hurting ("Mad World," "Change," and "Pale Shelter" being obvious picks from that) and playing fast and loose with the rest of the duo's catalog. This set does have several of their biggest hits, including "Shout," "Break It Down Again," "Head Over Heels," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," and "Woman in Chains," but there are several other collections that provide a more caring look at their back catalog. They deserve much better than this budget release. And so do you.” – Review on allmusic.com

“"Saladin Mercy" begins Gun Aramaic on a familiar touch, perhaps almost too familiar; while a certain consistency to Muslimgauze's work is no surprise, Bryn Jones generally varies things from album to album just enough to create distinct, different listening experiences for each release. Still, "Saladin Mercy" feels like something which easily could have been on his previous Soleilmoon/Staalplaat release Maroon, with its blend of the drones from earlier pieces and the more recent tweaking and heavy variety in the rhythms throughout the song. The following track, the first "8 am, Tel Aviv, Islamic Jihad," sets things more to rights, with a combination of sharp pulses, echoing roars, and what sounds like a domestic squabble between a couple caught on tape — a characteristically strange combination which again works out quite nicely in the end. A little more than most Muslimgauze releases, Gun Aramaic is very environmental in terms of its composition; the reliance on conversational snippets throughout almost turns the album into a soundtrack for a non-existent film. As is often the case for Muslimgauze, the most fascinating elements of Gun Aramaic often are the simplest, such as the persistent, slow-rising beat in the first "Opiate and Mullah," or the shift from near silence to an elegant, slightly creepy keyboard arrangement about thirteen minutes into "Oil Prophets (pt. 1, 2, 3)." Gun wraps things up on a very moody note with the dark rumblings concluding "Oil Prophets (pt. 4, 5)" and the quite brief but deep, moody drones of the second "Opiate and Mullah," making for a slightly unexpected end to a fair album.” – Review on allmusic.com

“Reissue of the 1982 album with 3 bonus tracks (11-13). The 3 extra tracks are from the original sessions, but didn't make it onto the album. They have never been released in any form before.
All Fall Down is one of those maligned records where some fans bailed but a select few would be inclined to attempt — through demonstrative hand gestures and longwinded, shouty, pouty explanations of the circumstances surrounding it — why it's the band's greatest achievement. All this despite the fact that the majority of the other people who have heard it will tell you it should be avoided at all costs. "It's hopelessly 'down,' it's got no 'tunes,' it doesn't go anywhere," etc. Truthfully, it falls somewhere between those two views. This is one of those records where patience pays off, because it will gradually become more apparent that the songs all fit together and pretzel themselves in a sense that each one's effect is optimized with the context of those surrounding it. It's not a sprawl of songs but an album. Nothing comes by and smacks you in the face; its progression unfolds slowly. They play around with song structures, avoid choruses, drop down unexpected portals, use rhythmic drives for extended stretches, and employ chanted refrains, tape effects, and mechanized handclaps. Some songs build and build and build on a slight gradient and fade out or disappear with no resolution, no catharsis. None of these developments emaciate the band's power. However difficult the record is to crawl into, it shows a band that had reached another level of mastery.”

Review on allmusic.com

“Signing to Arista might have seemed an unusual move to start with, getting produced by L.A. studio types like Waddy Wachtel even more so. But for the Church the rewards were great — if sometimes too clean around the corners in comparison to the song-for-song masterpiece Heyday, Starfish set up the band's well-deserved breakthrough in the States. The reason was "Under the Milky Way," still one of the most haunting and elegant songs ever to make the Top 40. As Kilbey details a lyric of emotional distance and atmosphere, the band executes a quietly beautiful — and as is so often the case with the Church, astonishingly well-arranged — song, with mock bagpipes swirling through the mix for extra effect. That wasn't the only strong point on an album with more than a few; the lead-off track "Destination" was as strong an album opener as "Myrrh," if slower paced and much more mysterious, piano blending through the song's steady pace. The rest of the first side has its share of highlights, such as the quietly threatening edge of "Blood Money" and the confident, restrained charge of "North, South, East and West." Willson-Piper gets to lead off the second side with "Spark," a vicious, tight rocker that captures some of the best '60s rock edge and gives it a smart update. Equally strong is Kilbey's "Reptile," with an appropriately snaky guitar line and rhythm punch offset against weirdly soothing keyboards. Koppes has an okay vocal to his credit on "A New Season," but the stronger tracks are Kilbey's other contributions, the strong guitar waltz of "Antenna" (with great guest mandolin from David Lindley) and the closing charge (and very Church-like title) of "Hotel Womb." Performances throughout are at the least fine and at the most fantastic.” – Review on allmusic.com

“A grab bag of extended mixes and otherwise neglected moments from the Human League's catalog, focusing on Dare! through Romantic?, Original Remixes & Rarities is a useful accessory for fans but — unsurprisingly — it's not the least bit essential for anyone else. Highlights include the extended versions of "Sound of the Crowd," "Don't You Want Me" (which is also instrumental), "Life on Your Own," and "The Lebanon," as well as a dub of "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" and the relatively irascible version of "Being Boiled" that appeared on Travelogue (the only inclusion that dates from the League's pre-coed lineup).” – Review on allmusic.com

“Badawi was born Raz Mesinai in 1973 in Jerusalem. By spending a lot of time with Bedouins in the Sinai desert as a youngster, he picked up on their unique musical style. An interesting use of genre splicing that combines Middle Eastern folk with ambient noise. Not that The Heretic of Ether is a straight-up ambient record that experiments with the aforementioned traditions, but this hybrid provides a haunting, divergent take on world music. Without using any turntables or samples, Badawi manages to churn out an array of sounds that were performed live in the studio. The end results provide a modern take on a sound that has been performed for centuries as well as something that would have to take time to grow on a listener.
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“James Plotkin had already been moving toward ambient music a few years prior to The Joy of Disease, but this was the album that reunited his growing passions with the more famous hardcore art metal explorations of his Old Lady Drivers output. Typically, death metal and electronics resulted in an industrial sound. The Joy of Disease took things elsewhere, somewhere full of stabbing psychedelic guitar loops and a slow, steady swarm of almost goth-like dirge beats that was quieter than something of the Wax Trax! or Boredoms ilk, but also subtler and simpler, with an avant-garde touch of Bruce Gilbert-styled feedback minimal electronica. No real heart or consistency, but that never really seemed to be the point.” – Review on allmusic.com

“Since the movie Pi is a sci-fi psychological conspiracy thriller, the soundtrack itself sounds futuristic, and contains a wide variety of electronic-dance stars alongside three originals by composer Clint Mansell (formerly of Pop Will Eat Itself). Massive Attack's haunting "Angel" is easily the soundtrack's highlight — distorted guitar, ethereal bass, and crisp percussion creep along for six minutes, with Horace Andy supplying the vocals. Also included is the drum duel "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" by Aphex Twin, the rapid-fire Roni Size dance track "Watching Windows," and the imaginative "Drippy" by Banco de Gaia (dripping water and percussion become merged together). Other contributors include Orbital ("P.E.T.R.O.L."), Gus Gus ("Anthem"), and Spacetime Continuum ("A Low Frequency Inversion Field"), among others.”

– Review on allmusic.com

“Those familiar with John Carpenter's own minimal soundtracks for his films Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13 probably would have credited the soundtrack of The Thing to the director as well. After all, the recurring theme — a dark, heartbeat-like pulse that circles in on itself without release — gives the film its particular tension and foreboding. But it's credited to Ennio Morricone, as is the rest of the album. The soundtrack is notable for being one of Morricone's earliest electronic scores and for acknowledging the influence of Carpenter's seminal work in music (and those who influenced him, such as Goblin). It also opts for an atmosphere of dread without punctuating the darkness with obvious scary orchestral bursts.” – Review on allmusic.com

“Synthesizer-playing composer Didier Marouani is the founding member of the French synth/space rock band Space. He was classically trained as a pianist at the Paris Conservatoire, but recorded his first album as a singer in 1975. Space was formed by Marouani in 1977, after he decided to focus more on composition. After leaving Space in 1980 he focused on his solo career. Marouani recorded his opera for choirs and synthesizers, Space Opera in 1987. The recording session was an international effort, bringing together choirs from the U.S. (Harvard University Choir) and U.S.S.R. (Red Army Choir). Apparently, a copy of Space Opera was put in the MIR space station. Highly recommended. One of my favourite albums of the decade. Really moving and deeply touching.” – More about Marouani on allmusic.com

“Originally a quartet whose sound drew inspiration from psychedelia, the Beloved found its greatest success as a rave-influenced dance-pop duo. Conscience, on which the Beloved consists of vocalist/producer Jon Marsh and co-songwriter/producer Helena Marsh (replacing guitarist Steve Waddington), suggests that the success of Happiness was a fluke. In the synth-pop sweepstakes, the Marshes are no competition to the Pet Shop Boys or Erasure, turning out bland, light dance tracks topped by Jon's uninvolved singing of light, upbeat lyrics.

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“After recording a series of albums that established him as a pop-minded interpreter of soul styles, Robert Palmer surprised fans in 1980 with the stylistic about-face of Clues. On this album, he brought his sound into the new wave era by playing up the rock edge to his music, stripping the high-production gloss from his sound, and incorporating synthesizers into the arrangements. The end result became a big hit in the U.K. and paved the way for later international successes like Riptide and Heavy Nova. Clues also produced two notable singles in "Looking for Clues," a clever slice of new wave pop that surprises the listener with an unexpected xylophone solo, and "Johnny and Mary," a moody synth-driven ballad with perceptive lyrics about a doomed romantic relationship. There is also an impressive cover of Gary Numan's "I Dream of Wires" that retains the chilly electronic grandeur of the original while successfully working in an earthier rhythm arrangement that makes the song dance-friendly. Elsewhere, Palmer shows he hasn't abandoned his penchant for soul and ethnic music: "Woke Up Laughing" filters an African-style, chant-like vocal melody through a minimalist electronic production style, and "Found You Now" effectively combines a reggae groove with a deadpan sense of cool that is very "new wave." The end result is a bit short (it clocks in at barely over a half hour), but it remains one of Robert Palmer's strongest and most consistent albums. In short, Clues is a must for Robert Palmer fans and worth a spin for anyone into new wave. ” – Review on allmusic.com

“Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters is Mick Karn's second solo album and features him playing a variety of woodwinds and basses, as well as keyboards and drums. The songs are marked by plodding drum tracks colored with simple contrapuntal keyboard and woodwind figures: of the instrumental tracks, only "The Three Fates" escapes this martial treatment. The two tracks that feature lyrics and vocals (by David Sylvian, Karn's former bandmate in Japan) are the most memorable. They emphasize the interplay between Karn's sinuous fretless playing and Sylvian's sonorous voice to good effect. ” – Review on allmusic.com